Did Don Lemon sell out Blacks with his ‘tough love’?

Few are shocked to hear the Bill O’Reillys of the world generalize African-American stereotypes and present them to the masses, but when CNN’s Don Lemon jumped on the bandwagon, it was a surprise for many Blacks who took to Twitter to express their disappointment.

“Don Lemon put his jacket over a puddle for Bill O’Reilly to walk over it. He didn’t take the jacket off first,” wrote one Twitter user.

“Why did @DonLemonDNN have to sell us out?” wrote another tweeter.

The backlash was in response to Don’s most recent “No Talking Points” segment in which he listed five things the African-American community can do to help improve the quality of life in those areas.

Unfortunately, Don’s comments came off a bit condescending to many, as he supported some Republicans’ criticism that too much focus has been put on George Zimmerman’s fatal actions while crime is rampant in many low-income, minority neighborhoods.

“The Trayvon Martin murder case got just about everyone talking about race, and not just specifically how it related to the case. It got some, many on the political right, wondering why the so-called liberal media wasn’t talking about other problems in the Black community,” Don said, acknowledging that some pundits’ eagerness to focus on Black-and-Black crime was a deflection.

However, Don’s realization that many conservatives were addressing the ills of the Black community just to avoid the conversation being had about the Zimmerman verdict, wasn’t an indication that he disagreed with their criticisms.

“Black people, if you really want to fix the problem, here’s just five things that you should think about doing,” said Don.

The CNN host then went on to suggest that Blacks pull up their sagging pants, quit littering in their own communities, finish high school, avoid using the N-word and stop having children out of wedlock.

“Just because you can have a baby, doesn’t mean you should, especially without planning for one or getting married first. More than 72 percent of children in the African-American community are born out of wedlock. That means absent fathers, and the studies show that the lack of a male role model is an express train right to prison,” he said.

Don refused to back down from his statements, even after the social media backlash.